Carolyn Ossorio and her son Patrick, who is convinced this month’s holiday is for him, with a plate of fish and chips— Image Credit: Submitted

For me, eating fish and chips is like eating a great burger — if I’m going to go for it, I want it to be the best deep fried fish and chips I’ve ever eaten in my life, otherwise, to paraphrase Mr. T: I pity the fool who disappoints.

Recently, my husband and I went on a date to try the fish and chips at a local restaurant for this month’s column. With five kids, date night takes on biblical proportions, so after securing a babysitter, our expectations were running pretty high.

So I felt conflicted when I ordered fish and chips and they were horrible. I mean, the fish was literally rotten.

Everything was going great, the service was excellent, clean, inviting environment, wide beer selection, wonderful appetizers. They had gotten everything right but that one thing. And serving rotten food is a big deal.

I stewed about it for days afterward.

On the one hand, I never want to write bad stuff about a restaurant. Unless it’s a travesty of justice, why be a jerk? I can always walk away; no harm, no foul. We live in America where there is always another choice.

Columnist Carolyn Ossorio and Peyrassol Head Chef Sacha Tinsley pose for a photo after making eggs Benedict.— Image Credit: Submitted

Sachia Tinsley and Scott Cory are the wife and husband co-owners of Peyrassol, Café at Southport.

Just finding Peyrassol, wedged beneath the Bristol apartments along an inlet road, seems like a secret, unexpected port near the shores of Lake Washington.

Every Rentonite with a little curiosity should absolutely make their way “off the beaten path” because the truth is Peyrassol, which opened in 2010, is at the epicenter of development in Renton, right next door to the new hotel on Lake Washington at Southport.

Offering “Rustic Western European cuisine that is refined yet country” in a quaint, down-to-earth space, the food is made with high quality ingredients and guided by Executive Chef Sachia’s palate and Sommelier Scott’s internal mood ring.

I asked Scott to explain a sommelier.

“Think of a sommelier as a table side wine and beer educator and also a food guide all wrapped in one. Peyrassol offers some Washington wines but mostly Italian and French to complement a menu that, brings the taste of the lifestyle of dining in Europe to our restaurant,” Scott said.

The holiday season is great time to try new recipes and meet new friends.

I met Steve McKenna this month while hosting the tree lighting event at the Piazza in downtown Renton and we had the chance to talk about Steve’s two favorite subjects: food and spirits.

With New Year’s Eve on the horizon, I thought it would be fun to invite over a pro to learn how to cook a tasty New Year’s Eve finger food and an inspired cocktail with flare.

And there’s probably no one better qualified to teach cooking with alcohol than Steve McKenna, a New York transplant and now Renton resident who made his television debut on “Three Sheets,” a show about going around the country and world getting to know the locals and the best sights to see by having a drink with people.

Actually many drinks, which earned him thousands of Facebook followers at Iamstevemckennad and the dubious honor of having his name, “Mckenna’d,” recorded in the urban dictionary and loosely translated means “to get drunk and do stupid stuff.”

Steve is best known as co-host of the “Drinking Made Easy” television show.

Pulling up to the driveway of Helga Jaques’ Renton home I was excited to learn a new recipe for the holidays.

Her house is reminiscent of a Chalet in the Swiss Alps in a sea of modern construction. Instead of overhanging eaves made of wood, the house is adorned with a latticed network of connecting grapevines. This year, Helga and her husband of over 50 years turned 120 pounds of their home grown grapes into Verjus, a kind of cooking vinegar.

Yes, it just so happens that we have a real life Austrian grandmother on the hills of the Renton Highlands.

Editor’s Note: The recipe printed on Page 13 of this week’s Renton Reporter inadvertently left “2 cups of half-and-half” off of the recipe’s ingredients list. The full, corrected recipe is below. We apologize for the error.

I was bantering the other day with my husband, Paul, about the idea of offering out homemade candy to trick-or-treaters, specifically, caramel apples.

He thought I was being ridiculous. I thought I was kind of being ridiculous.

So many things have changed the way we parent, but it seems like Halloween candy has stayed exactly the same since the urban legend of razor blades and pins in candy apples. Which is ironic because there has never been one documented case of razor blades in Halloween candy, ever.

The caramel apples were invented many years after the bright red, cinnamon candy apple, by Kraft Foods employee Dan Walker in the 1950s when experimenting with excess caramels from Halloween sales; he simply melted them down, and added apples.

I'm Carolyn Ossorio, also known as Pippimamma: mom to five who is also an author, reporter, wife, blogger, cooking host, podcast and video host.
The inspiration for my moniker of Pippimamma comes from that childhood icon, Pippi Longstocking, an unconventional, playful, questioning character... seeker of truth doing what her heart tells her to do, often in an unconventional way and never listens to naysayers!

I call myself Pippimamma because I try to embody that spirit of in my life...not getting caught up in what other people are doing but what feels right. Wherever that story leads me I am compelled to tell it.

I share stories of people, whether it’s an artist, entrepreneur, restauranteur, stay at home mom or politician. The folks I interview have one thing in common: people doing innovative, creative things that benefit our community and the world...outside the cookie cutter.